Wednesday, September 27, 2006

waiting for wednesday

I've been reading a new book entitled "America's Constitution, A Biography" by Akhil Reed Amar, a law professor at Yale university and noted constitutional law expert. I've not made too much progress in the book as yet (I only started it yesterday) but I'm loving it.

I've always been one who believes that it's incumbent on each citizen to have an fine understanding of the law and civil process etc. For those of you who enjoy understanding the constitution, this book is an awesome read. If you don't enjoy it, but you feel compelled to understand more about the history of the constitution, still a great read. I'll plan to summarize and give a review when I've completed the book.

Let me know your thoughts - does this intrigue you as much as it does me?

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Lost and Found

Sorry for not posting yesterday. It's been a pretty hectic last few days.

On Saturday Q had a football bye which was wonderful since we had about a billion other things to do that day, okay, maybe only 10 other things to do.

Started the morning helping T get off on his homecoming date. I remember when these date dances were only dinner and the dance. Now - it's an all day thing. I know they have a blast, but wow - talk about added magnitudes of work and expense - oh well. T doesn't seem to mind at all.

Once he was off (and I'd taken him the football he forgot to take along), I went and picked J up and headed over to my parents house to help with thier move. I spent much of last week helping them prepare for, and then move. We'll miss having them close (they're moving about 35 minutes away to the south of us, and they've been only about 3 minutes away). But we're excited for them to be able to move into their "retirement" home - no steps, all one floor, nice and open, but smaller, so less to clean, smaller yard, smaller town, more relaxed and conducive to retirement-like activities I suppose.

Once we'd helped them get the truck loaded, moved and unloaded, we came back and tried to get our normal Saturday shopping etc. done. Then we helped clean our car until it sparkled inside and out so T could use it for his date (on account of his car is "lame").

Then we met some friends for dinner, which was fab!

Finally made it home for more than a 10 minute stretch at about 9 that night, changed and went out and sat in the hot tub for about an hour just soaking out the tensions and cares of the day - bliss.

Sunday was the standard round of meetings. I really enjoyed testimonies that were shared, the Sunday School lesson, and the portion of the young women's lesson I was in time for.

Yesterday was the funeral of a good friend - a gentleman in our neighborhood who'd lived a full rich life. Participating in his funeral was a great reminder of what's really important in this life, and in the life to come. Thanks Thirl for everything. For your gentility and grace, for somehow enticing every small child you ever met to allow you to "count" their ribs, for sharing your wisdom and the fruits of your labors, and for your example. I'm looking forward to seeing you again. Oh, and did you know it's only 2 months and 29 days until Christmas? I knew you did.

Friday, September 22, 2006

Sir Elton - the recap

The concert was fantastic. La Reine and I met our friends just up the road a bit at a park and ride where they joined us. We drove up to west valley and had a wonderful dinner. During dinner we talked about our favorite songs, and which songs we thought he'd play, and which we hoped he'd play.

We arrived to find that our "cheap" seats were actually fantastic. We were in the upper concourse, but only about 50-60 feet from the stage with a great view of the piano (on our side) and of Elton the whole time.

And, it turned out that our thoughts on what he'd play and our wish list were not too far off from what he actually wound up playing!

The setlist from Tuesday:
1. Funeral For A Friend / Love Lies Bleeding (One of B's favs - didn't think he'd play this, but really hoped he would.)
2. Bennie And The Jets (thought he'd play it)
3. Philadelphia Freedom (didn't discuss)
4. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (thought he'd play it)
5. Believe (thought he'd play it)
6. Tiny Dancer (thought he'd play it)
7. I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues (thought he'd play it)
8. Take Me To The Pilot (didn't expect this one - loved, loved, loved it - Elton played a 10 minute "intro" which ranged from blues to gospel, to classical, back to blues etc. while his band took a bit of a break off-stage. AWESOME!!!)
9. I Want Love (didn't discuss this one)
10. Someone Saved My Life Tonight (Hoped he'd play - B's other fav)
11. Postcards From Richard Nixon (From the album that released on the same day as the concert - I bought it the next morning, most excellent)
12. Tinderbox (also from the new album)
13. Blues Never Fade Away (also from the new album)
14. The Bridge (Also from the new album - My fav of the new songs)
15. Old '67 (also from the new album)
16. Captain And The Kid (also from the new album)
(Note that Elton "introduced" each new song, and also explained the whole album, which is essentially the companion to the Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy.)
17. Mona Lisa's And Mad Hatters (One of my favs, didn't think he'd play it, I was thrilled that he did!)
18. Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word (Another of my favs, didn't think he'd play it.)
19. Rocket Man (Thought he'd play it)
20. Daniel (didn't discuss it)
21. Levon (thought he'd play it)
22. Crocodile Rock (thought he'd play it, and when this one started this dude 10 seats or so to my left, probably in his 50's, started be-boppin and fist shakin' and singin' along, very fun.)
23. The Bitch Is Back (thought he'd play it)
24. Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting (didn't discuss this one)
25. Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me (thought he'd play it)
26. Your Song (thought he'd play it)

We've seen Sir Elton now four times (once with Billy Joel, three times just him) and this was without doubt the best I've ever seen him. The voice was as pure as the early seventies, though he no longer hits the falsettos like he used to. He seemed very connected to the audience and super happy.

The concert lasted about 3 hours total, with no intermission, though there was about a five minute break when everyone, including Elton left the stage - right after "Levon" I think. When Elton came back out onstage, he spent probably 10 minutes moving from one side of the stage to the other signing autographs, smiling and laughing the whole time.

Dear Sir - please come again soon. We've missed you.

- jake

Thursday, September 21, 2006

A most excellent diversion

Can be found at blufr.com.

Let me know how you fare.

An example
The bluff:
Only one state that ever applied for admittance into the United States was ever rejected.

I said - "No way"

and got this answer:

You’ve been bluf’d: (Along with 47% of the people who saw this bluff) The State of Franklin originally seceded from North Carolina and existed from 1784-1788 in what is now eastern Tennessee. It received 7 votes when it applied to the US Congress for statehood, a majority, but not the necessary 2/3 majority.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters

A date with Sir Elton tonight. I'm very much looking forward to another evening with good friends and good music. I'll certainly have a review tomorrow to let you know how it goes.

Monday, September 18, 2006

The weekend in review

Friday night - Provo lost to Timpview. TK played the second half at quarterback because the t-birds did their best to re-injure WJ's shoulder, (they were successful), at least when they weren't pulling off WJ's helmet and punching him in the face. The bulldog response to the face punching cost Provo a touchdown. Great fun! TK played well and looked great, but we just couldn't seem to capitalize, and the bulldogs lost by a touchdown.

Saturday was continuous running from 7:30 in the morning until bed at 11:00 or so. The running included a QK game (the team lost but he played well), grocery shopping, the neighborhood luau, running TK dinner at work, taking SK over to babysit his cousins, and then a couple of hours working on ripping all the game footage from the previous couple of days, making DVDs, updating the football blog, etc., etc. At the luau the Bishop called me up to sing with him - a task I usually quite enjoy, but unfortunately my hawaiian music repetoire is nil, so I mostly harmonized and sang the chorus when I knew it. Sigh.

Sunday began bright and early with a 7:00 am stake priesthood meeting. I very nearly convinced myself to skip it, but ended up doing the right thing, and I took all the boys with me too. Turned out that it was a truly fantastic set of messages, and I would really have missed out if I'd stayed in bed. Best part is the boys agreed!

After priesthood meeting, I spent the rest of the day in other meetings which were equally fulfilling as the first, and finally got home around 7:00 pm. La Reine had already taken the rest of the family up to her mom's to celebrate family birthdays. I called to see when they'd be coming home, and it turned out that it wouldn't make much sense for me to go, since I'd wind up being there for about 1/2 an hour before it was time to turn around and come back home. On a plus side - the dinner that was waiting for me was fantabulous, and I had some time so just relax, enjoy the meal, and wait for my sweet family to rejoin me.

After we'd gotten the younger kids to bed, La Reine, TK and I went over to play some games at my parents (a near regular Sunday occurence) and I even won! The last time that happened was back in July sometime (I keep stats okay, let's just leave it at that), so it was a nice cap to the day. Of course we enjoy the play, but we go for the coversation and company.

We got home just before 11, and I nodded off around 12:30.

A truly rewarding weekend, spent in the company of friends and family - I'm very blessed.

Friday, September 15, 2006

Something just for the fun of it

Something I stumbled across today. I'll be keeping track just to see where it goes and how much it sells for. So, just for fun, we all can:

Support Follow TheWhiteLaptop

Started by Cambrian House as a fundraiser for charity. What a cool idea. I really like the idea of cambrian house and what they do:

"Cambrian House Mission Statement

Cambrian House's mission is to discover and commercialize
software ideas through the wisdom and participation of crowds.
Contributors earn royalties, sharing in the success of the products."

Have a great Friday all!

Thursday, September 14, 2006

So far this week

Lot's to think & talk about:
  • A multi-regional conference for our church with a witty sermon from a senior church leader
  • The 5th anniversary of the September 11th attacks
  • Brit has boy number 2
  • Who's a better dancer Emmitt or Mario?
  • Whitney dumps Bobby
  • The remarkable Ann Richards passes away
  • I help in baby girl's 1st grade class
  • Segregated "Survivor" premieres

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

haec olim meminisse iuvabit

A new look and a new start. A recommitment to a more consistent update. (I've said this before, so we'll see.)

I'm excited to start afresh on a clean slate. It's like writing on the first page of a new journal. The old journal is still there for reference, but the new one just feels right. Sometimes I've started a new notebook just so that I can have that feeling, even though the old notebook was only partly full. This is a similar exercise.

Anyway - for what it's worth, here I go again.

And one day, we will look back on this and smile, won't we?

"pain quotidien"

"My own business always bores me to death; I prefer other people's."

-Oscar Wilde